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Friday, October 23, 2015

Types of Symmetry

We will learn about all types of
symmetry of various shapes in geometry. The explanation will help us to
understand the different types of symmetrical shapes which possess or
does not possess linear symmetry, point symmetry and rotational
symmetry.

Name and draw the shape which possesses linear symmetry, point symmetry and rotational symmetry?

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Shortening the school week to four days has a
positive impact on elementary school students' academic performance in
mathematics, according to researchers at Georgia State University and
Montana State University.

The study, published in the journal Education, Finance and Policy
in July, analyzed the impact of a four-day school week on student
achievement by comparing fourth-grade reading and fifth-grade math test
scores from the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) for students
who participated in a four-day school week, versus those who attended a
traditional five-day school week.
The researchers found a four-day school week had a statistically
significant impact on math scores for fifth-grade students, while
reading scores were not affected.
The study suggests there is little evidence that moving to a four-day
week compromises student academic achievement, an important finding for
U.S. school districts seeking ways to cut costs without hampering
student achievement.
"What interested me about our results is they were completely
opposite to what we anticipated," said Mary Beth Walker, dean of the
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State. "We thought that
especially for the younger, elementary school kids, longer days on a
shorter school week would hurt their academic performance because their
attention spans are shorter. Also, a longer weekend would give them more
opportunity to forget what they had learned."
Although the shortened school week did not have a measurable impact
on reading outcomes, "the idea that the change in the calendar did not
have negative effects we thought was an important result," Walker said.
A number of school districts in the United States have moved from the
traditional Monday through Friday schedule to a four-day week schedule
as a cost-saving measure to reduce overhead and transportation costs.
Four-day weeks have been in place for years in rural school districts
in western states, particularly in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Over one-third of the school districts in Colorado have adopted a
four-day schedule. The alternative schedule has also been considered in
school districts in Oregon, Missouri, Florida and Georgia.
The four-day school week requires school districts to lengthen the
school day to meet minimum instructional hour requirements. Previously,
there was a lack of information on whether the four-day school week
affects student performance, Walker said.
The researchers have speculated on why the shortened school week
positively affected students but there are not enough data to draw
definite conclusions.
"We thought the longer days might give teachers an opportunity to use
different kinds of instructional processes," Walker said. "We also
speculated that a four-day school week lowered absenteeism, so students
who had dentist's appointments or events might be able to put those off
until Friday and not miss school. We thought there might be less teacher
absenteeism.
"My own personal hypothesis is teachers liked it so much--they were
so enthusiastic about the four-day week--they did a better job. There's
some evidence in other labor studies that four-day work weeks enhance
productivity."
Walker notes the results are only applicable to smaller and more
rural school districts. Further studies should be performed to
understand the effects on urban school districts, she said.